Search This Blog

Thursday, December 24, 2009

pumpkin gnocchi

One of the truly delightful fall and early winter dishes to come out of Italian cuisine. Not always vegan in stores and restaurants but easily can be when made at home. Gnocchi is not difficult to make once you understand the basic principles. From there it is simply a matter of practice to get the techniques together.

You will need
1 cup roasted pureed pumpkin
2 cups semolina flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp white pepper

Combine the dry ingredients. Add the pumpkin and work into a dough and knead for 20 minutes. A stand mixer is very nice to take care of this job for you.  The secret here is not to add too much flour! The less flour you add the lighter and more delicate will be your gnocchi.

Let the dough rest for 20 minutes in a dry, cool place, covered tightly.

Take a small piece of dough and roll out a log about 1/2 inch thick. Cut 1 inch long pieces from the log. Repeat till all the dough is rolled out into these small dumplings.

In a large pot, bring water to boil. Drop in gnocchi about 12 at a time. When they float, they are done so immediately remove them one at a time as they float. Plate and sauce and serve immediately. As with all pasta do not overcook. This is easy as the gnocchi literally tells you when it is done by coming to the surface, literally saying, time to eat.

i like this best with the walnut sage sauce i blogged about earlier or a nice basil pesto.

No comments:

Post a Comment